Project organisation

Steering Committee

The SEMIAH project will be controlled by the Steering Committee, comprised of one representative from each of the consortium partners, and chaired by the Coordinator. The SC considers and decides upon all proposals put forward by the Coordinator and Technical Manager. Furthermore, the SC is free to formulate their own proposals to be carried out by the managers. The SC meet according to need – but at least every six months – to define and review strategic priorities, monitor and review progress made and agree on actions for coming periods. This work is based on a report from the Technical Manager. Furthermore, the responsibility of the SC is:

Decide changes to the Grant Agreement to be proposed to the Commission.

Decide on changes to the consortium, the Consortium Plan and IPR issues.

Decide if part of or the whole of the project should be terminated.

Agree on managers and members of the Management Bodies.

Support the Coordinator in preparing for meetings with the Commission.

Prepare the content and timing of press releases and joint publications by the Consortium.

The consortium partners have appointed positions for key management functions, i.e. overall management of EC contract (Coordinator), management of technical coherence between WPs (TM), and exploitation and dissemination activities (EDM).

Coordinator

The Coordinator of the SEMIAH project is the intermediary between the partners and the Commission. The Coordinator’s responsibilities are restricted to activity coordination. However, given the nature of the project consortium, the Coordinator is likely to be granted mandates and delegated authority from the SC.

The SEMIAH consortium has appointed AU to fulfil the task as Coordinator. AU has extensive experience from leading a large number of collaborative R&D projects and has a strong support team to assist the Coordinator in his management tasks. We have appointed Rune Hylsberg Jacobsen, Associate Professor at AU, as Coordinator. Rune is a highly experienced researcher with a strong background from the telecommunication and IT industry. He has been Associate Professor and Group Leader at AU’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Section since 2010 and, since 2012, he is the Head of AU’s Smart Grid Programme. His main research interests include Future Internet, Smart Grid Communications, Internet of Things, wireless IP networking, and embedded systems development. Before joining AU, Rune accumulated over 15 years of experience in several major companies – namely Bell Laboratories (USA), TDC (Danish telecommunications operator), Ericsson (Denmark and Sweden) and Tieto (Denmark) – filling positions as Consultant, Systems Engineer, R&D Manager, Business Development Manager, Section and Department Manager. Hence, Rune is well positioned for the role with strong competencies related to people management, innovation management, relationship building, competence development, business administration, project management, technology transfer, and prototype development from his various R&D management positions. Rune has worked in several EU projects – such as SmartHG (FP7), where he is currently leader of one of the work-packages; 6INIT (FP6); and BTI (FP5). Furthermore, he is an Independent Technical Expert for the ARTEMIS-JU and the FP7 programmes, and member of the Danish Smart Grid Research Network under the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Buildings. Rune’s publication record includes more than 30 scientific articles; his scientific work has been cited more than 1700 times and he has achieved an H-index of 9 (source: scholar.google.com). As Coordinator, Rune will chair the SC, and act as the consortium’s administrative interface to the Commission.

Technical Manager

The Technical Manager (TM) role has been included to ensure technical coherence of all R&D and demonstration activities in the project. The concrete responsibilities of the TM include management of technical progress towards the objectives and deliverables of the project plus the exchange of results and knowledge between the partners to enable cross-fertilisation of ideas and data flow needed to support concurrent tasks. The TM’s activities include tasks such as:

Co-ordination of technical activities and communication between partners within work packages.

Review and management of project progress against S&T objectives based on brief monthly reports from work package leaders or through the participation at working party meetings.

Assembly and processing of technical input from all WPs for summary reports to the SC.

Overall Risk Management, including recommendations to the SC with regard to revised strategies.

Work flow scheduling and adopting change-control procedure for the Work Plan.

Mohan Lal Kolhe, from UiA, has been appointed as TM for SEMIAH. He has the necessary experience and knowledge to coordinate all technical work in the project while maintaining a complete overview of the project. Mohan is a Full Professor in electrical power for renewable energy at UIA’s Faculty of Engineering and Science. He is a leading renewable energy technologist with more than 20 years of academic experience at international level on electrical and renewable energy systems. In addition to his position at UIA, Mohan has previously held academic positions at several world's prestigious universities such as the University College London (UK / Australia), University of Dundee (UK); University of Jyvaskyla (Finland); Hydrogen Research Institute, QC (Canada). He was also a member of the Government of South Australia’s Renewable Energy Board (2009-2011). Mohan’s academic work ranges from the integration of renewable energy systems, smart grid, integrated renewable energy systems for hydrogen production, fuel cell applications for small cars, techno-economics of energy systems, solar energy engineering, to the development of business models for distributed generation. He has been successful in winning research funding from prestigious research councils (e.g. EPSRC, BBSRC, EU, NRP, etc.) for his work on sustainable energy systems. He has published extensively in the area of energy systems engineering and has been invited by many international organizations for delivering expert lectures / courses / key note addresses.

Exploitation and Dissemination Manager

The Exploitation and Dissemination Manager (EDM) will be responsible for project innovation activities – dissemination and exploitation.

A main task of the EDM is to draft a formal Exploitation Strategy detailing the planned dissemination and exploitation of the project results. The strategy covers foreseen exploitation activities, licensing arrangements and protection of the intellectual property generated within the project, as well as formalisation of the methods for an efficient and broad dissemination and communication of project results across stakeholders and key sectors. The EDM maintains a version of the Exploitation Strategy, and keeps it updated with progress and intentions of exploitation and commercialisation. The SC approves the Exploitation Plan and the EDM will inform the Coordinator on the progress status at regular intervals.

The EDM will also be responsible for managing intellectual property rights (IPR). All knowledge (foreground) generated in the project will undergo a thorough and structured process to ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect and exploit the project results.

Dissemination activities will include, inter alia:

Publication of scientific results in journals

Press-releases for the local and international media

Presentations at scientific and industry relevant conferences and trade shows

Dialogue with industry and trade organisations

Project website.

Our consortium has chosen Dorthe Gårdbo-Pedersen from Develco Products as our EDM. Dorthe is an impassioned networker and experienced information technology professional who has more than 9 years of experience in marketing and strategic communication. Dorthe is responsible for all research projects in Develco Products including project management, participation, and reporting. Previously, Dorthe has been working as conductor and is therefore an experienced communicator at all levels. Furthermore, Dorthe has been working as event manager. Overall, Dorthe has a strong profile for ensuring sound management of the EDM activities.

Work Package Committees (WPC)

Participants in each work package will constitute a WPC, chaired by a consortium partner (WP leader). The WP Leader manages the work in the given WP and ensures adequate execution of tasks within the foreseen time frame and budget.

The WPC monitors technical progress through brief reports following each meeting, which are subsequently transferred to the TM. The reports will detail progress on tasks in the previous period, as well as planning for partners’ work in the following period. Furthermore, the responsibility of the WPC is to:

Ensure that deliverables from their work package are met within the time and budget frame